Pacelli's Rome 4

At the end of his secondary school days, Eugenio Pacelli made a retreat at the ancient basilica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura on Via Nomentana in order to discern where his life was to go.  Around the same time he confided to his parents that he wished to enter the seminary and study for the priesthood.  There are some suggestions that Filippo Pacelli had hoped his second and youngest son would follow him into the law as had his eldest son Francesco.  Whatever the opinion of his father, there is no doubt that both Filippo and Virginia Pacelli would have accepted their son's decision as a blessing for the family.

Two plaques record Pacelli's retreat at Sant'Agnese.  Both were placed during the 1942 celebrations for the Pope's Silver Jubilee as a bishop.